Mail-pouch receiving or delivering apparatus for railway-cars.



- PATENTED AUG. 11 1908. c w BROUGHTOB'.

AY CARS.-

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

R DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR RAILW APPLIOATIOX 171mm my :1, 190a.

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M Q/ N I V I MW I E R 6 H M.\ l 2 nu l U w m I 8 m y fl MAIL POUCH RECEIVING 0R DELIVERING APPARATUS P L m L.. m A T i 9 c EX 1 A L 0 o ,1 w m \N \w w fl L E o u U I m llllll H M\ \M D s m o a w m T Y O C H n m 2 N\ W m .5 RN w I A v I I I I lfi I I I I l I l I I I l l ll No. 895,422. PATENTBD AUG. .1, 1908.

. 0. W. BROUGHTON.

NG 0R DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY'GARS.

MAIL POUCH REGEIVI APPLICATION TILED MAY 21, 1908. Y 3 SHEETS-SHEEP 3.

a i i CHAUNCEY W.'BROUGHTON, OF CARLTON, ILLINOIS.

MAIL-POUCH RECEIVING OR DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratenteaau 11, 1908.

Applicationfiled. May 21, 1908. Serial No. 434,019.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CnunvcnrvV. BROUGH- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Carlton, Dekalb county, Illinois. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in MailPouch Receiving or Delivering A paratus for Railway-Cars, of which the fol owing is a-full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention is designed more particularly, but not necessarily, as an improvement upon mail pouch receiving or delivery apparatus for railway cars of the articular ty 0 shown and described in my L. S. Patent l\0. 880,008, issued February .25, 1908, to which reference may be had for an understanding of any features common to the two devices which are shown herein but not described in detail.

One of the objects of my present invention is to cause the arm which holds the mail pouch in readiness to be received by the apparatus on the mad car, always at right angles to the track or in a position presented towards the track when a mail train intended to collect the mail 1s pas ing said arm and to turn the arm back out of the way after the mail train passes so as to avoid being accidentally struck by freight trains or protruding objects thereon.

Another object of my present invention is to provide improved and simple means for automatically setting the pouch holding arm at a station in position to-deliver the ouch in the car a considerable time before t ie car reaches such arm and to accomplish this by an electric current delivered to the station device from a source of supply on the moving train without interruption of the current should the train, in approaching the station, pass over a crossin where the conductors for carrying the current would ordinarily be dis continued.

, 'ith a view to the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of certain other objects, which will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty which will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a railway car equipped with my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 IS a diagrammatic plan view of the track and the station apparatus, and Fig. 3

' is a diagrammatic elevation thereof looking lengthwise of the track.

' ently of the section 7.

1 is a horizontal arm which supports the mail pouch2 in any suitable way preparatory to being received upon the moving car. This arm may be of the usual or any suitable construction but in the particular form shownin the drawing it consists of an ordinary bar secured in a rotatable head 3, mounted upon a vertical pivot 4 and also having a guard arm 5 provided with a spring pressed finger 6 to prevent the mail pouch from accidentally slip )ing from the arm 1. The head 3 is mounted upon the usual post or standard 7 at the side of the track and when it is desired to deliver the pouch to the car, the arm 1 must stand in a position sub stantially at right angles to the track or in a. position in which itis presented towards the track but when a train not intended to collect the mail is passing it is desirable to turn this arm back out of the wa When the arm is not otherwise controlied, it is thus moved back out of the way in a position substantially lengthwise of the trac by a spring 8, or equivalent means. This may be connected to the arm in any suitable way. The head 3 in this 'example of the invention is mounted upon a short independent section 7 of the post which in turn is pivoted on the main part of the post by means of a pivot 9 so that the section 7 will be capable of axial rotation independently of the post, while the head 3 will be capable of rotation independ- The lower end of the section 7 a is attached to the upper end of a cord or cable 10 which passes throughan eye 11 on the post 7 and is secured to the u per end of the spring 8, the lower end of t is spring 8 being attached to the post 7 and so arranged that its tendency to recoil or contract will cause the section 7 to rotate on its )ivot 9 and turn the arm 1 to the track. Vhen the arm 1 is in position transversely of the track it is yieldingly held by spring 12, whose upper end is connected to the head 3 by a cord or cable 13 passing through an eye 14 and its lower end is attached to the section 7*. This permits the arm 1 to yield when struck b the receiving device or is otherwise sub ected to the force of the passing receiving device on the car.

The spring 8 holds the arm 1 back out of the way while all trains excepting a mailtrain is passing but when a mail train aproaches the arm is automatically presented vided partially on the passing train.

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mechanism .is preferably electrically actuated, as I will now explain.

Mounted upon the post 7 or at some other convenient point, is a solenoid or magnet 15 having a-core or armature 16 connected by a cable 1'? with the rotatable section 7 a of the post or standard in such a way that hen this electro responsive device 15 is energized the section 7 a will be rotated upon its pivot 9 and the arm 1 thereby presented to the mail car in a direction crosswise of the track. One end of the solenoid is shown as being connected to the lower end of the cable 17 which passes under a pulley 18 and thence upwardly through an eye 19 on the standard 7. This solenoid or magnet is energized preferably by a source of current carried on the car of the passing train, such, for example. as storage batteries 20 adapted to deliver their current to conductors or rails 21, 22, arranged on the ground lengthwise of the track in position to be engaged by brushes carried by the car. In my aforesaid patent the car is provided with storage batteries and brushes adapted to deliver the current of the batter ies-to stationary conductors on the road bed in a somewhat similar manner but should it be necessary for the car to pass over a crossing, such as shown at '23 in Fig. 2 while approaching the station or the mail pouch post 7, the current in the track conductors 21, 22 would be broken if these conductors should vbe discontinued above the surface at the crossing 23 and that would allow the arm 1 to return to its position lengthwise of the track, ossibly at the very time when it should 0 presented towards the passing mail car. According to my present invention, therefore, the car is provided with two pairs of brushes, one pair at each end of the car and the ground conductors 21, 22 are connected together under the crossing 23 by wires or conductors 24, 25. One pair of. brushes on the car is shown at 26 and these brushes are the same in construction and location as those described in my former patent. The other pair is shown at 27 and the two pairs are sutiiciently spaced one from the other to enable one pair to always be in contact with the ground conductors 21, 22, at one side or the other of the crossing 23. The brushes 26 between stations are in contact with fixed contacts 30, 31 and are permanently in contact with the positive and negative poles 28, 29 of the storage battery 20, and when their lower ends strike the ground conductors or rails 21, 22, they are thrown out of engagement with contacts 30, 31, as in my former patent; thereby alternately supplying current to the rails 21, 22 while passing a station, and to conductors 32, 33 on the car for energizing magnet or solenoid 34 which operates the pouch receiving mechanisnron the car between stations as described and shown in my former patent.

When the lower ends of the brushes 26 arrive at the gap in the rails 21, 22, where the cr'ossing is situated, howev'cr, they would have a tendency, of course, to fly apart again by virtue of springs 35, 36, and thereby close electrical connection at their upper ends with the contacts 30, 31, and this action would en-' ergize the mechanism including the magnet 34 on the car at the very time when it should be denergized. In order to prevent the springs 35, 36 from thus closing the circuit 32, 33, a magnet or solenoid 37 is provided, and its core or armature 38 is connected by cables 39 passing around suitably arranged pulleys 40, with the brushes 26 respectively, so that when the magnet or solenoid 37 is energized, the brushes 26 will be held bacl; out of engagemcn t with their respective contacts 30, 31, while the lower ends of the brushes are )assing the gap in the rails '21, 22.

T 10 solenoid or magnet 37 is supplied with 'current from the batteries 20 through the medium of the brushes 2? while these brushes are in contact with the rails 21, 22, and also in engagement with contacts 41, 42, corresponding to the contacts 28, 29 against which the brushes 2? may slide but keep pcrmanently in engagement. Contacts 41," 42 are connected by conductors 43, 4:4, with the positive and negative poles of the battery 20 and contiguous to them are arranged station-. ary contacts 45, 46 with which the brushes 27' engage when their lower ends engage the rails 21, 22. The contacts 45, 46 are connected by conductors 18, 49 with the magnetor solenoid 37, which is thereby supplied with current at a time when the lower ends of the brushes 26 may be out of engagement with the rails 21, 22. It will also be seen that the contacts 45, 46 the conductors 43, 44 are sup )lying the rails 21, 22 with current from the iattery 20 via 41, 42 and 27 for operating the station devices including the solenoid or magnet 15.

The ground conductors or rails 21, 22 may. be connected with the solenoid or magnet 15 by conductors 50, 51, and it will of course be understood that one of the posts or standards 7 with its associated rotary head 3 and other parts may be situated at each side of the track and the solenoid 15 thereof propcrly connected with the track rails 21, 22 without departing from the s irit of my invention, nor would it be any eparture from the spirit of my invention to substitute for the arms 1 and 5, which are intended to deliver the pouch to the car, the receiving magnetic arms 98 of my aforesaid patent, should it be desired to provide the station device with means for receiving the pouch from the car instead of delivering to the car- It is of course apparent also that the windings of the various magnets, or solent oids, will be of such relative or proportionate while the brushes 27 are in engagement with resistance that one will not be, capable of robbing the others of current from the batttilryliwhen two or more are connected in pera e In order that the invention might be understood by those skilled in the art, the de tails of an exemplification thereof have been fhus specifically described, but

What I claim is- 1. In adevice for the pur ose described, the combination of a support or sustaining a mail pouch adjacent to a railway track, movable towards and from said track, electro responsi e means for movingsaid support towards the track, a railway car adapted to travel upon the track, and means upon the car for effecting the actuation of the means for moving said support.

2. In a device for the purpose described, the combination of an arm or projection for sustainin a mail ouch adjacent to a railway tractr, movab e towards and from the track, an electro responsive device for moving said arm, a railway car adapted to travel upon-said track, and means on the car for energizing said electro responsive device while the car is passing.

3. In a device for t e purpose described, the combination of an arm or projection for sustainin a mail ouch adjacent to a railway tracIr, mova-b e towards and from the track, an electro responsive device for moving said arm, a railway car adapted to travel upon the track, a source of electrical energy carried by said car, and means for communi eating said energy from the car to said elec tro responsive device while the car is passin 4. In a device for the purpose described, the combination of an arm or projection adapted to sustain a mail pouch adjacent to a railway track, movable towards and from the track, an electro responsive device for moving said arm, stationary conductors adjacent the track in circuit with said electro responsive device, a source of electrical energy, a railway car adapted to travel upon the track, and means carried by the railway car for placing said source of electrical energy in circuit with said stationary conductors.

5. In a device for the purpose described, the combination of an arm or projection adapted to sustain a mail pouch adjacent to a railway track, movable towards and from the track, an electro responsive device for moving said arm, a railway car adapted to travel upon said track, a source of electrical energy interrupted stationary conductors arranged adjacent the track, and brushes car ried by the car for engaging with said station ary conductors and communicating said electrical energy thereto, said brushes being sufficiently removed from each other to bridge I theinterruptioninsaid stationary conductors.

I 6. In a device for the purpose described, the combination of an arm or projection adapted to sustain a mail pouch adjacent a railway track, movable towards and from the ing said arm, stationary conductor rails arranged adjacent the track and in circuit with said electro responsive device, a railway car, a source of electrical energy, and brushes carried at both ends of said railway car and for communicating said electrical energy thereto, said conductor rails being separated and electrica ly connected together at the points of separation below the surface of the road bed and the said brushes being sufiiciently spaced to bridge said point of interruption.

7. In a device for the purpose described the combination of an arm or projection adjacent to a railway track movable towards and from the track for holding a mail pouch in readiness to be received upon a )assing car, stationary conductors arran e along the track and at intervals in their ength being situated above the road-bed and exposed and at ether intervals below the road-bed or shielded, a car adapted to travel u on the track having two pairs of deilectable rushes spaced from each other in the l ngth of the car and adapted to contact with said conductors, a source of electrical energy carried by the car and having communication with said brushes at both ends of the car, electrical means on the car for receiving the mail pouch while supported at the station, com prising means for holding said electrical means in its Withdrawn position, fixed contacts arranged adjacent to one pair of said brushes for n eiving current from said source of energy when such pair of brushes is out of contact with said conductors and thereby supplying said electrical means on the car with current; fixed contacts arranged adjacent the other pair of said brushes and adapted to be engaged by the same when the lat tersaid pair of brushes engages said conductors, an electro-responsive device on the car in circuit with the last said pair of contacts and having a mechanical connection with the first said pair of bmshes for keeping the latter out of contact with their said adjacent fixed contacts when rhey pass the shielded parts of said conductors.

3' whereof I have signed my name to this necification, in the presence of two subscribrg witnesses, on this 24th day CHAL'XCEY W. BROUGHTON.

'Witnees:

J. H. Jocnmr, Jr.,

CHARLES H. SEEM.

track, an electro responsive device for mov adapted to contact with said conductor rails 895,422 V V l er 

